What Is My Birthstone?

Birthstones by Month

Every month gets at least one stone. The twelve guides below open with the exact reasons people carry them. Find yours, walk through the year using the interactive birthstone calendar, or line all twelve up on the complete birthstone chart.

JanuaryGarnetFebruaryAmethystMarchAquamarineAprilDiamondMayEmeraldJunePearlJulyRubyAugustPeridotSeptemberSapphireOctoberOpalNovemberTopazDecemberTurquoise

Birthstone Guides by Sign

The twelve sign guides ask a different question. They look at the stone your star sign inherited, the older zodiac pairing sitting underneath it, and the daily practice people have built around wearing it.

AriesTaurusGeminiCancerLeoVirgoLibraScorpioSagittariusCapricornAquariusPisces

Crystals for What You Are Actually Asking

People usually pick up a stone because they need something specific. A birthday never enters the picture. These four guides follow that path, and each one names the exact tradition its claims come from.

Read Something Today

Four things on this site move. Everything else waits on the shelf until you want it.

Where the Twelve Stones Came From

Take a five-minute run through the month list and the breastplate story behind it. We disagree with one detail. The video treats the 1912 standard as the final answer. We treat it as one list among several.

What Is a Birthstone?

A birthstone is a gemstone tied to your birth month or zodiac sign. In Antiquities 3.186, Josephus interpreted the twelve breastplate stones as the twelve months or zodiac signs. That is a historical symbolic interpretation, not the modern monthly list. Josephus, Antiquities 3.186 (Whiston translation)

We show two separate systems. The American National Retail Jewelers Association standardized the U.S. monthly list in 1912. Later additions include tanzanite for December in 2002 and spinel for August in 2016. Older regional and zodiac traditions use different pairings, so a month stone and a zodiac stone can differ. Sources: JA: 1912; GIA, Winter 2002, p. 378; JA: spinel, 2016.

We label all meaning, energy and protection claims as folklore, astrology or crystal practice. The tradition is named right where it appears. Hardness, colour and origin are the only parts we treat as fact. Keeping those two sides completely separate is the deal we make with you.

Source for the 1912 U.S. month-list standard: Jewelers of America, which states that “the official birthstone list dates back to 1912.”

Caring for Your Birthstone

Most of what ruins a birthstone is a cleansing ritual someone read somewhere else. Salt water, an overnight soak and a full day on a sunny windowsill do more damage than years of ordinary wearing. A sapphire shrugs all three off. A pearl, an opal or a piece of turquoise will not, and none of that damage comes back. Every stone guide on this site names the ritual its stone cannot survive.

“The safest cleaning methods are also the easiest.”

Lukewarm water, a drop of mild soap and a soft brush suits almost everything you own. Keep pearls and opals away from any machine that buzzes or steams. Perfume and lotion go on first, jewelry second. Give each stone its own pouch so the tough ones stop chewing on the soft ones. If you want to cleanse a stone the traditional way, moonlight and smoke cost you nothing and take nothing off the stone.